Sleep for Immunity

Sleep is so important for building and maintaining a strong immune system ...

I have a routine that helps me fall asleep easily and quickly.

The only problem with a routine is that when it is interrupted or broken (eg when my sister phoned just before I was going to bed and we chatted until well after midnight) it’s REALLY difficult to wind down and your sleep pattern is also disturbed.

Luckily that rarely happens, so my regular routine serves me well. It goes something like this:

• I have a ‘sleep alarm’ set on my phone that gently tinkles to the tune of ‘go to sleep’ at 9pm with a message that reads “time to prepare for bed”
• I confess that since isolation, I ignore my alarm and don’t prepare for bed until midnight 😳
• I finish what I’m doing - could be a TV show, my blog, a words with friends game (whatever)
• I take the dogs out to pee and put them to bed
• Fill my bedside water bottle
• Turn off the TV, the fan and living room lamp
• Brush my teeth
• Pull my hair back
• Dab myself with my ‘sweet sleep’ essential oil
• Climb into bed, make myself comfortable and listen to a 30 minute sleep meditation on a phone app through earpods. I listen to the same app every night, so the sound of that voice now serves as a sleep trigger and I’m usually asleep inside 3 minutes.

Your routine could include your evening shower or bath, drinking a soothing tea like camomile or reading a book. Anything, as long as it’s something that you can do every evening before bed time.

Avoid regular tea and coffee after 3pm because the stimulant in caffeine (which is found in both) can affect you for up to 8 hours after you drink it.

There are 94.8 mg of caffeine in a cup of coffee and 26.1 mg in a cup of tea. There are 43 mg of caffeine in 6 squares of dark chocolate, so you should probably avoid that in the evenings too.

Keep your lighting low in the evenings. Turn off any fluorescent lights.

Research shows that spending time outside between 9-10am and again between 4-5pm helps regulate your serotonin and melatonin levels, which in turn reduces your need for a day time nap and improves the soundness of your night time sleep.

The government provides a 17 page booklet about that research specifically done on the elderly (that’s us!)

OR in a nutshell ...

Yes, I did my breathing exercises today - day four. I find that I can hold my breath for a few seconds longer every day. Is that beneficial for lung function??? I’ll find out.

Here we go ...

Here are the links to the studies highlighted there.

Increasing Life Span
Regeneration of new tissue in the brain
Resistance to bacterial infections

Making yourself feel relaxed this is not a study but a selection of different breathing techniques.

Well, that should keep you busy ... but then it’s not like you’re going anywhere 🤪

Haha

Have a happy Sunday!

Nite all.